Disclaimer: I don't own Young Dracula, just my own character and story line.

Blood Isn't Always Thicker Than Water

Chapter 10

"Jess! Jess we need to get up" Malik was gently prodding her to wake her up but she groaned and turned her back on him. He reached over and dug his hands into her stomach gently. She laughed in shock and sat straight up.

"Look it's nearly dark, we can travel now" Malik explained.

"Okay, but where are we going?"

"How about Paris?" he suggested, "Always wanted to go there"

"Sounds good" Jess grinned back, but then her smile faded. "But I still can't fly how are we going to get there?"

"I have an idea but I don't think you'll like it".

Malik led her over to the entrance of the cave until they were stood right at the edge. Jess looked over at the choppy waves that seemed even angrier than last night; their little cave would be completely submerged in a few hours. The white spray splashed their faces and icy wind whipped through their hair chilling the vampires further.

"No way, you're crazy Malik!" Jess shouted over the top of the wind. Malik had suggested that in order to develop Jess's ability to turn into a bat, they should create a 'life threatening situation' to try and force it out. So naturally Malik had proposed jumping of a tall cliff and hopefully transforming before hitting the freezing water.

"You'll be fine; I was when I first tried"

"Yeah but I bet you weren't forced to jump off a cliff"

"No, my mother was dangling me over a volcano actually" Malik said seriously. Jess nodded reluctantly. Malik took her hand and counted down from three; to Jess's horror he jumped on two.

Jess screamed as the cold wind stung her face as she plummeted towards the sea and certain death. Malik hadn't turned yet as promised; he would wait for her to change in case anything went wrong. Jess closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on well, being a bat. She tried to imagine having wings instead of clumsy arms so she could fly on the wind currents instead of falling. When she opened her eyes again she risked glancing Malik.

He had already turned into a bat, what was he doing? Jess looked down at herself and saw instead of arms she now had black leathery wings and a fury body. She had actually done it; she was no longer falling to her death she was flying alongside Malik.

"I knew you could do it, come on let's go to Paris" Malik said.

Jess was surprised how quickly they could fly as she could see Dover's white cliffs behind her that were already disappearing into the night. They flew over the channel with Malik leading the way ahead of her. It took them a few hours before they could see the Eiffel Tower lit up red against the backdrop of Paris. Malik flew them right to the top and landed on a piece of scaffolding. He transformed back to normal and swung his lungs over the railing he was sat on. Jess copied him and sat down to his right griping onto a nearby pole tightly to stop her from falling.

"How long until dawn?" Jess asked.

"Just over an hour, then we need to find somewhere to stay" Malik replied. The view from the tower was breathtaking (well not that they had any breath to take away). All of Paris was lit up and the Seine flowed through it like a silver snake occasionally interrupted by various shaped bridges. The Notre Dame cathedral and the Palias de Chaillot sat to their right. The pyramidal shape of the Louvre was lit up blue and purple which made it sparkle; even Malik had to admit it looked beautiful from up there.

All too soon they saw the sun begin to creep up on the horizon and they had to move. They walked around the cramped backstreets of Paris trying to find the least dodgy place to stay. Malik was convinced he had heard of a vampire who had set up a hotel in Paris for other vampires and that they just needed to look in the right place. Eventually they found it, a classy eighteenth century building tucked in a corner of a back street. It had classic tall French windows and was made of whitish stone. A red sign hung above the door that said 'The Red Night'. Malik pushed the door open and they walked into the reception. The interior was decorated in a similar Gothic style to the Dracula's house, Jess wasn't sure if that reassured her or not.

Looking round Jess could definitely tell this was a vampire hotel. Men in dark cloaks were gathered around the bar drinking blood. Countesses were wearing glamorous shimmering dresses. In fact they all looked more upmarket than Malik and Jess who looked out of place in a leather jacket and hoody.

"Stay close to me" he whispered, taking Jess's hand. They walked towards the receptionist who was eyeing them suspiciously. Malik cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Can I help you Monsieur?" she spoke in good English with a French accent.

"My friend and I would like to book a room for a few nights" Malik announced in what he thought was a more sophisticated voice but the lady clearly wasn't fooled.

"I'm sorry, we're full. I think you and your half-fang friend should try somewhere more to your standards" she sneered nastily. Malik was about to speak but was interrupted by Jess whose eyes had just flashed yellow.

"Oh really, are you sure? I think you can fit us in say -" Jess searched the registration book frantically "-room 352 for as long as we require it"

"Of course Madame here are your keys" the receptionist handed over the set of keys as Jess thanked her.

"Since when did you learn to hypnotise?" Malik asked when they were far enough away from reception.

"I don't know I just tried it" she shrugged. They climbed the stairs to the 3rd floor and quickly searched for room 352. It was a small but grand room with an en suite, wardrobe, sofa and a coffin.

"You have it" Jess offered "I'd rather sleep on the sofa; I'm not used to the idea of sleeping in a coffin yet".

Malik jumped into the coffin to try it out, unfortunately due to his height he had to stick his feet out the end and his broad shoulders were squashed at the sides.

"Or maybe I won't sleep in the coffin" Malik said, "You would fit thought". Jess still shook her head.

"I'm sorry it reminds me of my parents, I can't"

Malik sighed. He took the cover out of the coffin and laid it on the floor. He rolled up his leather jacket and used it as a pillow.

"Its fine I'm used to sleeping on the floor" he said and led down with his back to her. Jess walked over to the sofa and arranged the cushions as pillows. She led down on her side and looked over at Malik lying uncomfortably on the floor, she closed her eyes.

"Night Malik" she said quietly. He only grunted in response. Jess yawned and eventually fell asleep. Malik however couldn't get to sleep as his neck and shoulder were hurting. In fact everything was hurting from lying on this floor so two hours later he had had enough. He got up quietly and walked over towards the sofa with the blanket. He looked at Jess sleeping comfortably curled up against the back of the sofa. He slid next to her trying not to wake her up; he didn't feel like causing an argument. He draped the blanket over both of them trying not to touch Jess. He heard Jess sigh in her sleep as she turned over so she was now facing him. Malik was trying desperately not to fall off the edge of the sofa as he now had less space than before. He didn't want to perch on the edge of the sofa all night so reluctantly he woke Jess up.

She jumped as she opened her eyes and saw Malik's face so close to hers. She frowned at him confused.

"Sorry the floor was too uncomfortable for me" he smiled cheekily.

Jess rolled her eyes whilst smiling.

"Come here then" she said and snuggled against him. Malik who was now satisfied with the sleeping arrangements put his arm round Jess and kissed her forehead.

"Night Jess"

Author's Note: Thanks to anyone still reading this, it is much appreciated after the ridiculously long updates. Again Sorry!